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Ask HN: Anyone use a stand up desk?

4 points by croucho ↗ HN
I’ve been struggling with weight loss for years. I find that every time I try and start a regime I get really hardcore for 2 weeks or a month and then fall off the wagon. I either get sick or busy working crunch and don’t have the discipline to stay at it.

I’ve been tinkering with the idea of using a stand up desk at work but was wondering if the muscle pain and altered workspace would be too much.

Any advice?

4 comments

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Vyk
I've been thinking about trying this too. I'm about to move, so maybe in the new place... Do you have a home office where you could do a test? If you watch any TV shows maybe start standing through some of them.

Your shoes could be a big factor. Heel elevation de-stablizes posture, so you may want to try barefoot/Vibram FiveFingers or something.

croucho
Yeah I planned on trying barefoot. I talked with our IT guy today and we're gonna rig a little something just to try the experiment for 3 weeks. If after that I don't keel over, then I suppose we can offer the option to others (and possibly look into some sweet desks that can raise up).
beantownballa
Hey, it might be a bit too much. What you can do to get yourself started is to perform one specific activity standing up.

>>I used to check all my e-mail standing up and then sit down to do other stuff. >>Or if there was a site I had a tendency to waste a lot of time (like a humour or gossip site), I would stand up while surfing that site to prevent 3 hours from disappearing into the Interwebs.

A long time ago, when I was an investment banker, a lot of the senior traders would sit on those rubber balls and use them in place of chairs. Really good for your abs, but personally I found them a bit pretentious -- like they were trying too hard to be cool and flashy.

Let us know what you try and good luck, croucho.